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The Young Makers Program announces its 2012 season in the Bay Area. The program connects young people with adult mentors and fabricators to create opportunities for kids to dream up and develop projects for Maker Faire each year. Kids are encouraged to develop projects based on their own interests and ideas. Past projects have included a pedal-powered trolley, furniture that doubles as a hamster habitat, a fire-breathing dragon, a seesaw water pump, an animatronic galloping horse, and a mobile spy camera. The collaborative environment fosters creativity, innovation, and experimentation. Program participants get together for monthly meetups to explore different kinds of making and to talk about their own work in progress. The focus is on exhibition, not competition, and just like Maker Faire, anything that’s cool is fair game.

For the past three years the monthly meetings have been hosted by the Exploratorium. Although the Exploratorium will be closed during year’s program, there are three new host organizations for the 2013 season: The Lawrence Hall of Science for Young Makers in the East Bay, The Tech Museum for those in the South Bay, and The Bay School of San Francisco for those in the North Bay.

Want to start or continue a maker club in your area? Interested in mentoring a young maker? Are you a parent of a young maker who wants to connect with other parents? Want to find out more about the program? Come to an adults-only organizational kickoff meeting Nov. 15 from 6:30-8pm at The Exploratorium. Please RSVP here.

Although the evening will focus on the Bay Area, participants who want to start clubs and regional hubs elsewhere are encouraged to come. Remote access may be available so if can’t come be sure to check out youngmakers.org.

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I know my son would love this. Do you know when the kid information is out? If I can’t make the adult meeting can he still do it?

http://www.facebook.com/hlubinka Michelle Iva Cook Hlubinka

Hi Shannon–Anyone can start a club regardless of whether they attend tomorrow. We don’t have any “kid information” per se, but do check out the resources we have on our website–like our Playbook. It’s mostly about how to start a club.

In the MENTOR Makerspace program (makerspace.com) we’re creating workshop guides that can be used by clubs whether or not they are part of the MENTOR Makerspace program. In the meantime, you can find lots of ways to get making on Make:Projects and Instructables–which I’m sure you know since you are obviously a reader of Makezine.com!

Be sure to sign up on youngmakers.org and makerspace.com to stay in touch with all our latest developments.

http://www.facebook.com/hlubinka Michelle Iva Cook Hlubinka

Also–we’ll be streaming Thursday’s event live on YouTube–link at the top of the post.